Computing networks can include multiple network devices including network devices such as routers, switches, hubs, and computing devices such as servers, desktop PCs, laptops, workstations, mobile devices and peripheral devices, e.g., printers, facsimile devices, and scanners, networked together across wired and/or wireless local and/or wide area network (LANs/WANs).
High availability (HA) is a mode of operation for networks where redundant components are used to reduce service outage. The cost of high availability in FC/FCoE networks, measured in terms of the number of nodes, increases linearly with the number of switches in an HA cluster. Current HA solutions maintain a per connection state within a primary fibre channel over Ethernet (FCoE) forwarder (FCF) which is synchronized across a switch HA cluster to a secondary FCF. The model of operational control is active (primary)/standby (secondary) where all connection and fabric services intelligence is placed in the primary FCF (p/FCF) and synchronized with the secondary FCF (s/FCF). A primary/secondary FCF together with a set of FDF(s) define a virtual domain (or switch). Synchronization of connection state from a p/FCF to an s/FCF can lead to a number of issues.